Jamie Oliver’s Carrot Cake with Orange and Mascarpone Icing

February 28, 2009

Made this recipe recently, and it was dy-no-mite. The cake was very dense but moist, and the icing had a tongue-tingling zing. Any New Years resolutions which require avoiding sweets must be suspended immediately.

285g/10oz butter, softened

285g/10oz light brown soft sugar

5 large organic eggs, separated

juice & zest of 1 orange

170g/6oz self raising flour, sifted

1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder

115g/4oz ground almonds

1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

285g/10oz young carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

115g/4oz shelled walnuts, chopped

Icing:

115g/4oz mascarpone cheese

225g/8oz cream cheese

85g/3oz icing sugar, sifted

juice and zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar by hand, or in a food processor until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and the orange juice and zest. Mix in the sifted flour and baking powder, add the ground almonds, walnuts and cinnamon, then fold in the carrots. Wisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then fold them into the flour, nut and cinnamon mix.

Pour into the mold and cook for about 50-55 minutes until golden and risen and a plastic cocktail stick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the mould for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack and leave it to cool for at least one hour.

When your cake is completely cold, make the icing by mixing all the ingredients together, then spread over the top of the cake.